Ouellette gets tryout with Saints

ATHENS — Former Ohio football running back A.J. Ouellette (Covington, Ohio) has earned an invite to rookie minicamp from the New Orleans Saints.

Ouellette earned All-Mid-American Conference First Team honors in 2018 for the first time in his career after being named to the Second Team in 2016. He became the first Ohio running back to be named to the All-MAC First Team since Kalvin McRae achieved the feat for the third year in a row in 2007.

Ouellette ranked 12th in the country with a career-high 1,306 yards (fourth-most in program history) to lead the MAC. His career-high 100.5 rushing yards per game (eighth-most in program history) ranked 23rd in the nation and led the MAC. He became just the fourth player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons.

His career-high 12 rushing touchdowns ranked second on the team and tied for the ninth-most in a single season in program history while his career-high 14 total touchdowns scored tied him for the sixth-most in a single season in program history.

Ouellette rushed for over 100 yards five times in 2018, going for over 165 yards in each of the last four games, which included a career-high 196 yards in the victory over Buffalo. He was named MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week twice in 2018.

Ouellette was named 2018 DXL Frisco Bowl Offensive Player of the Game after rushing for a game-high 164 yards on 29 carries as the Bobcats shut out San Diego State, 27-0, to earn their second consecutive bowl win. Ouellette moved into third place on Ohio’s all-time rushing list with 3,784 career rushing yards.

His 32 career rushing touchdowns rank as the fourth-most in program history. He tallied 14 career 100-yard rushing games, which tie him with Arnold Welcher (1974-77) for the fifth-most in program history.